Aug. 22
Yes, don't you just love tautologies.
Expired medications can end up in river water that is used
for drinking water.
See for example:
http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/awr/july00/feature1.htm
The article does not suggest any human health effects, but
does note that a lot of pharmaceuticals end up in drinking
water. You can do a Google search using "medications in river water"
and obtain more results.
Steven Dapra
At 03:05 PM 8/22/2011, you wrote:
> Many years ago, when I began to work in the environmental health field,
>there existed a guideline to the effect, "The solution to pollution is
>dilution". In other words, if it could be assured that disposal of
>any harmful
>agent could not result in environmental concentrations above designated
>standards, the disposal method could be considered acceptable. Over
>time, this
>approach had apparently been superceded by the "Any is too much" philosophy
>where the detectible presence of anything harmful is not acceptable.
>The ALARA
>principle in radiation safety is a manifestation of this type of thinking.
> Now, it seems that we have evolved to the next level. I recently noted a
>warning from our state Health Dept. to the effect that any disposal
>of outdated
>medications into the sewage system is forbidden. I've tried to
>imagine a set of
>conditions where this practice might conceivably result in some
>harmful effect,
>but I am stumped. When I inquired about the rational, I learned the
>reason for
>this prohibition is because the practice is illegal. OK, ---I give up! Maybe
>someone on radsafe has a reasonable explanation.
>Jerry Cohen